What's his pitch? He calls himself Real Labour – create jobs, protect the NHS, pull out of Afghanistan.

Can he win? Unlikely, but the Tories hope he'll split the Labour vote.

Tell me about the leotard. He wore it on Celebrity Big Brother in 2006, when he also pretended to be a cat licking cream from the cupped hands of Rula Lenska.

How did that go down? It was voted the most memorable moment ever on CBB.

Respect! His fellow MPs were less impressed.

What's his political background? Labour party organiser in his home town of Dundee from about the age of four; general secretary of War on Want, 1983-87; Glasgow Labour MP, 1987-2005, but was expelled from the party in 2003 because of his opposition to the Iraq war. Co-founded Respect and won Bethnal Green and Bow from Labour in the 2005 general election.

Why was he expelled?Other Labour MPs opposed the war. He was unusually vociferous, saying Bush and Blair "attacked Iraq like wolves".

Blimey. He did apologise later.

Oh good. To wolves.

Wasn't he quite keen on Saddam Hussein? Careful, he can be litigious. He met Saddam in 1994 and said: "Sir, I salute your courage, your strength, your indefatigability." But he now insists he was referring to the Iraqi people, not to Saddam personally.

Likes: Cigars; Palestine; the sound of his own voice; standing in elections.

Dislikes: Champagne – he is teetotal despite allegations he's a champagne socialist; running dogs of imperialism (AKA Bush and Blair); the late Christopher Hitchens, whom he called a "drink-sodden ex-Trotskyist popinjay and useless idiot".